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Sports Commentary 10/16/12

Just checking on some things that caught my erye in the sports world in the last couple of days. Have you noticed how Rex Ryan is the gift that keeps on giving for the New York Giants? Just when it looked like the Super Bowl champions had lost their ability to stay under the radar and sneak up on people with that dominating win over the favored San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Rex stepped up and put the Giants back in the rearview. The thought of the Giants claiming his coveted back pages must have been too much for Mister Bluster and he called out the Patriots again, telling them in no uncertain terms they’re going down on Sunday. The Giants are once again free to set about preparing for a very big game with the Redskins as the anonymous team in town. Did I hear the message from Ben Cherrington wrong? Did he or did he not say the Red Sox will be expeditious in resolving their managerial situation this year? In two days it will be two weeks since Bobby Valentine got the pink slip and yesterday the Sox interviewed Yankee bench coach Tony Pena. Brad Ausmus is next up, tomorrow, Thursday they’ll interview DeMarlo Hale. All this goes on while the guy they really want, John Farrell, is still under contract to the Toronto Blue Jays, requiring some form of accomodation. What comes first, a Red Sox manager or the Thanksgiving turkey? By the way, the Red Sox yesterday announced they’ll freeze ticket prices for next season. It sounds like a magnanimous gesture, but look at it this way. After the season they just put their long suffering fans through, did they really have a choice? How is it that Bobby Knight has to auction off his Olympic gold medal and the three national championship rings he earned when he was the head basketball coach at Indiana to secure the funding for his grandchildren’s college education? Wouldn’t you think that Knight has enough money banked by now to buy each of the kids their own wing at a college somewhere? 82 games already cancelled through next Wednesday, meaning more games have to come off the table within a matter of hours. Wouldn’t you think the NHL would finally put the economic issues that are holding up progress in their labor talks on the table? They’ll get another chance to do it today. We’re more likely to get word of the next cancellations today than we are to get word of progress. One of the great local college soccer stories is being written right under our noses. It’s about time we paid attention. In it’s first year as the University of St. Joseph’s, the soccer Blue Jays have an 11-1-1 record and, with a 9-0-1 mark, top the Great Northeast Athletic Conference standings. The Jays are currently ranked 13th in the NCSAA division III New England poll and yesterday they pretty much insured a move up those rankings with a 1-0 win over 11th ranked Lasell. With some bases I thought we should touch in the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.